


And So It Goes

by jackopancake



Category: Gintama
Genre: Chance Meetings, Longing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5821612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackopancake/pseuds/jackopancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakamoto and Gintoki crossed paths once, just once, before getting a drink. The bartender listened. And she wondered, later. Why hadn’t they seen each other earlier that day?</p>
            </blockquote>





	And So It Goes

They passed each other once.

Just once.

A brush of shoulders, a red coat trailing past. Gintoki glanced back, but the man was gone in the crowds. Who was he? He swore he saw thick, curly brown hair, but there was no way to be certain. Often, he thought he saw the other, but when he ran back to check, the nose was too big, or the ears shown under the hair, or the eye color was different. It was almost always the eye color.

But every time it happened that he passed someone who reminded Gintoki of him, he sat on his futon that night and let his mind wander. He remembered the other’s soft smile after they kissed the first time, and it just embarrassed him even now. Why had he kissed that mop-head bastard?

That night in particular, he went downstairs and had a few drinks. Gintoki described him to Otose, his eyes (how blue they were, so blue). His laugh (how annoying it could get, especially in dark times. But that was the point of it, really). How he left the war to make a better life, to help people (but also to help himself, oh how deeply affected he was). She listened. It was one of the first insights she had into his past

Otose knew who he was talking about. She saw him walking around often, heard rumors about him (ex-Joui, founder of the Kaientai, went to Club Smile the most but sometimes frequented Saigou’s place and the host club down the way). Now that she thought about, he even visited her bar once. And if the man visited Kabuki so often, why hadn’t they met in these ten years? She wondered this often.

Why hadn’t they seen each other earlier that day?

Gintoki had had his nose in JUMP.

 

 

A familiar face.

Tatsuma swore he saw a familiar face that day, but under the shade of his sunglasses, hadn’t been able to make it out right away. He was bad at recognizing faces at just a glance.

He paused and turned around anyways, No, the crowds had swallowed them up, whoever they were. With a shake of his head, he went on. Unlike him, Tatsuma never checked to see who it was. He knew there were enough silver haired people out there, and a part of him wouldn’t had been shocked if he learned he was dead.

He would be sad. He tried not to think about it. Instead, he thought of when he woke up one day after a bad decision, and the other was by his side, holding his hand gently within his... the inflicted wound having almost killed Tatsuma. He remembered how the man saved him. He remembered pressing a kiss to the other’s hand, to show he was okay.

That day, he went to a new bar. (A quieter bar than normal, but that was fine.) He started telling stories to the bartender, about someone he was grateful to. He was grateful, because without them, there would be no space business (and no Tatsuma). He loved this man, despite his intimidating features and his abrasive attitude. Ten years, and he still loved him. The bartender listened.

And she wondered, later.

Why hadn’t they seen each other earlier that day?

Tatsuma had been daydreaming.

 

 

Mutsu found them sleeping against the wall, side by side.

Being pulled out of sand must take a lot out of a man.

With a huff and a slight smile, she turned and walked away.


End file.
